Budget 2025: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at Parliament on Saturday to present the budget 2025. However, her attire grabbed everyone's attention as she wore a Madhubani art Saree made by Padma awardee Dulari Devi. Sitharaman honored the 2021 Padma Shri awardee through her attire selection. Mithila art is popular all over the Madhubani district and involves sensitive drawing of geometrical patterns on a cloth or a canvas using natural dyes, brushes, pens, twigs and match-sticks.
Story behind Niramala Sitharaman's budget Saree
Dulari Devi, a Mithila painter from Bihar, met the Finance Minister when she visited Madhubani for a credit outreach activity at Mithila Art Institute. They had a cordial exchange of thoughts on Madhubani art in Bihar. Dulari Devi had presented the saree and asked FM to wear it for the budget day.
Dulari was awarded Padma Shri by the then President Ram Nath Kovind for her contributions to preserving Madhubani art. She established herself as a prominent figure in the art community. Her intricate designs, blending Bharni (color-filled) and Kachnhi (line sketching) styles, have become synonymous with Mithila’s storytelling traditions and she continuously worked hard to evolve the art.
Meet Dulari Devi
Born in 1968 in Ranti village in the Madhubani District in Bihar, Dulari Devi belongs to the Nishad (fishing) or Mallah community. Her family lived in a straw house with a thatched roof. She never went to school or received a formal education. She was married at the age of 12.
Dulari Devi used painting to escape from all the hardships in her life as it was the ultimate happiness for her. Coming from a humble background, her community is considered one of the most marginalised sections of society, Dulari used to draw patterns with twigs on the floor of her hut.
Her journey as a Madhubani artist began unprecedentedly. To overcome the financial hardships, Dulari Devi found a job as a domestic worker and as luck finally started to favor her, she was working in the home of renowned Madhubani artists Mahasundari Devi and Karpuri Devi. It was during the training sessions in the home of Mahasundari Devi that Dulari Devi held the paintbrush for the very first time and thereafter she never looked back.
She kept evolving and her art gained her global recognition. She also presented a sample of her artwork to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.